$74m grants to clean brownfield sites

More than $74m of grants will be dished out to turn former industrial and commercial sites into housing developments, community gardens and even golf courses.

Former industrial waterfronts are among the sites that EPA wants to see regenerated

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded 314 grants to authorities in 43 states to transform unused brownfield sites.

More than 209 applicants, including two tribes and two US territories, have been chosen to benefit from the cash.

"By revitalising and restoring neighbourhoods nationwide, EPA's Brownfields Programme is proving that being a little green is doing a lot of good," said EPA administrator Stephen Johnson.

"These grants will help convert even more environmental eyesores back into sources of community pride."

Nearly 200 of the grants, totalling $38.7m, will be used to assess sites, and 108 grants totalling $19.6m will fund the cleanup activities.

A further 12 grants adding up to more than $15m will be used to set up local funds to provide low interest loans for brownfield cleanups.

EPA's Brownfields Programme has awarded nearly $600m in grants for assessing and cleaning up some of America's estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated sites.

Successful proposals for the latest round of grants included the conversion of industrial waterfronts to river-front parks, landfills to golf courses, rail corridors and recreational trails and gas stations to housing.

A number of the applicants do not have firm proposals for sites but hope a cleanup will make the land more attractive to developers.